EPA, Mexico meet over Tijuana sewage crisis
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin joins ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss rolling back Biden-era environmental policies, the U.S.-Mexico sewage crisis in Tijuana, and his recent meeting with an Israeli diplomat killed just weeks later.
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A new deal between the United States and Mexico aimed at resolving the Tijuana River sewage crisis is “massive” win for Americans living in the San Diego area, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced this week.
The memorandum of understanding was signed Thursday as the EPA said “For many decades, untreated raw sewage has flowed into Southern California from Mexico, polluting the Tijuana River Valley, closing beaches, fouling the air, harming the region’s economy, and sickening people on both sides of the border.”
“The Trump Administration is proud to deliver this massive environmental and national security win for Americans in the San Diego area who have been living with this disgusting raw sewage flowing into their communities for far too long,” Zeldin said in a statement.
The EPA said the deal meets multiple “top Trump Administration priorities and milestones critical to ensuring a 100% solution to this issue” — including expediting already-existing critical infrastructure projects.
LIV GOLF STAR PHIL MICKELSON ADDS HIS REACTION TO DEEPENING SEWAGE CRISIS IN SAN DIEGO
A sign reads “Stop The Stink” near the Tijuana River Valley area by Border Field State Park along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana in San Diego County, Calif., on April 23, 2025. In recent years, the U.S.-Mexico border sewage pollution problem has closed beaches and raised concerns over public health issues. (Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“The United States — which has withheld sending more American dollars to projects until Mexico fulfilled their obligations toward other projects — agreed to release EPA Border Water Infrastructure Program funding to complete the rehabilitation of Pump Station 1 and the Tijuana River collection pipes. This is because Mexico agreed to fund and begin construction on two priority projects this year, the diversion of treated effluent from two wastewater treatment plants and the rehabilitation of the Parallel Gravity Line,” the EPA said, in reference to a wastewater collecting pipe in Mexico. “This increased the total number of projects planned for this year from two to six.”
“To that end, Mexico will immediately seek internal funding to initiate the construction process for the diversion, which will divert 10 million gallons per day of treated effluent entering the Tijuana River, and the rehabilitation of the Parallel Gravity Line. This will be completed no later than December 31, 2025,” the EPA added.
It also said “Several necessary Mexico side projects have been added to account for future population growth in Tijuana and operation and maintenance costs.”
DEAL STRUCK BETWEEN US AND MEXICO TO ENSURE TEXAS FARMERS GET MUCH-NEEDED WATER
The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant operates to treat water and sewage flowing across the border from the Tijuana River behind a section of border wall fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana on April 24, 2025. (Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
The deal was reached after Zeldin traveled to San Diego in April to speak to those affected by the situation.
“I made a commitment to the residents that I would spearhead an effort to construct an all-encompassing plan to finally bring the sewage crisis to an end,” Zeldin said. “Since my visit, the Mexican and United States’ governments have been working collaboratively to urgently finalize a permanent 100% solution to this longstanding issue. Secretary Rubio and the whole State Department, and the National Security Council at the White House worked hand-in-hand with EPA, and other federal partners, to make this agreement a reality.”
An aerial view of sewage water spilling into Playa Blanca beach in the coast of Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on March 21, 2024. (Getty Images)
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“This is not just a solution for 2025,” he added. “We devised this agreement to factor in population growth, operation and maintenance costs, and other variables that would make this solution durable and long term. Grateful to President Claudia Sheinbaum, Secretary [of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico Alicia] Bárcena, and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their partnership, cooperation, and commitment to work with us to clean up the Tijuana River Valley. This is a huge win for millions of Americans and Mexicans who have been calling on us to end this decades old crisis.”
